


whatever happened, happened

by ozmissage



Category: Lost
Genre: Angst, M/M, Non-Explicit Sex, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-02
Updated: 2012-05-02
Packaged: 2017-11-04 17:06:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/396175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozmissage/pseuds/ozmissage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It has been ten years since he left this place and for once in his long life ten years feels like nothing, just a blip in time and over far too soon.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	whatever happened, happened

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pann_cake](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=pann_cake).



The first time he sees the island again it’s nothing more than a distant spot of darkness against the horizon. Formless and unremarkable, but Richard knows exactly where he is. He closes his eyes against the sight and grips the cool metal railings of the boat with clammy hands. 

It has been ten years since he left this place and for once in his long life ten years feels like nothing, just a blip in time and over far too soon. The silver strands that run through his hair, the crow’s feet forming at the corners of his eyes, the slow ache that burns through his joints when the weather grows damp—they all attest to the passing of time. He’s growing older.

-

{He rolls over in bed to face Miles and his knee pops audibly. Miles, still groggy and tangled in the sheets, begins to laugh and Richard watches the muscles in Miles’s back tense and release with the effort. Richard places his palm between Miles’s shoulder blades, runs his thumb across the hard line of Miles’s spine. 

“You sure you can still get it up, old man?” Miles teases, never looking up from his pillow, but the tension in his back betrays him. 

Richard drapes himself across Miles’s back, presses a soft kiss against the sensitive skin behind Miles’s ear, and Miles groans in response, his hand groping for Richard’s thigh. 

“Show off,” he mumbles and it’s Richard’s turn to laugh.}

-

“I’m sorry, dude,” Hurley says by way of greeting.

Richard only nods. He doesn’t want to stop, doesn’t want to think, he only wants to keep moving until he reaches his destination. Hurley is watching him carefully. 

“He’s here, you know. He’s okay.”

“He’s not with me, so he’s not okay,” Richard does not temper the sharpness in his voice.  
He begins to walk. 

-

{“I never kissed a man,” Miles says, a wicked grin curling on his lips. Miles pauses a second before winking at Richard and taking a long draw off the bottle before passing it over. 

Richard shakes his head, his fingers unconsciously tracing circles around the lip of the bottle, still warm from the press of Miles’s lips. He can feel the skin on his neck growing warm. Miles will notice the blush. 

“You know this game doesn’t work if you lie,” Miles prompts.

“I’ve never…” Richard’s voice trails off and Miles arches an eyebrow. 

“Are you fucking kidding me? Over a hundred years on mystery freaking island and you and the golden boy never screwed each other senseless?”

“No,” Richard says. He can’t take his eyes off Miles’s lips, still moist from the rum. 

“You’re a stronger man than I am,” Miles says, but when their fingers brush as Richard passes the bottle back, he knows he’s not strong at all. 

He catches Miles’s wrist and the bottle drops, splashing rum across their pants, their shoes, but Richard doesn’t care. His lips are pressed against Miles’s, his hands digging into Miles’s hips. They break apart breathing hard, and Miles is still grinning.

“You’ll have to drink next time.”}

-  
Hurley doesn’t follow him, doesn’t try to stop him. For that, Richard is grateful. 

There are easier ways to slip through time, to unhinge it, than with the wheel. Daniel Faraday’s work sparked a revolution after his disappearance. Whispers of the mad man gave way to curiosity, to praise, to advancement. 

Miles thought it was insanity. If Richard remembers correctly, his exact words were: _Never fucking again_. 

The tears come unbidden and before Richard even realizes what’s happening, he’s on his knees in the jungle, sobbing. 

He would do anything. He would break any rule, make any deal, if only it would give him one more day.

-

{The hospital is too cold, too sterile. The smell of it takes Richard’s breath away. He moves through the corridors like a ghost, his feet carrying him to Miles’s room as if they’ve always known the way. 

It happened fast. Miles was working a job with Jim. Richard wanted to them both to stop playing with ghosts and guns. Hadn’t they all had enough of both? But Miles said it was his thing, said he had a responsibility, _never had one of those before, I’m kind of curious to see what all the fuss is about_. 

Now he’s in a bed. Now he can’t breathe without a machine. Now Richard knows how many steps it takes to get to room 108.

“It’s your decision to make, Mr. Alpert,” the doctor says. 

Richard holds Miles’s hand as the machines go silent.}

-

The heat hits him first, sends beads of sweat running down his brow almost upon contact. The familiar smell of the tent, of the earth beneath him, almost makes him turn back.

Is this what he really wants, to do it all again, to erase one lifetime and start anew? _Cualquier cosa por ti mi amor_.

Time travel is not an exact science. Richard is not sure when he is, not yet. Miles could decades, years, minutes away from him. 

Richard emerges from his tent. Jacob will be waiting.

-

“Stop him,” Miles hisses, but Hurley only shakes his head. At least he has the decency to look sheepish about it. 

Miles has gotta say, this whole being on the other side thing blows. 

“You know the rules, whatever happened, happened.”

“Yeah, and what happened was we got off the island, we did the whole happily ever after thing, we had a lot of sex. It was good. Then I died. It happened. Richard quantum leaping wasn’t part of the deal. Just tell him to stop being an asshole and go home.” 

Hurley side-eyes him warily. He knows something. God, he’s a terrible liar. 

“Cut a dead guy a break and tell me what I’m missing here, man.”

“I just…I know stuff,” Hurley says. “You know island protector comes with some perks. You just…you gotta trust me.”

Miles may like Hurley, but in this moment he wishes he could punch him.

-

Richard tells Jacob a story. 

It’s a long one. It’s about a plane crash, about a hatch and an initiative, it’s about the future and Jacob’s brother and maybe, just maybe, saving the world, but mostly it’s a love story. 

Then he tells Jacob to take the story from him. To weave it into something else, to never breathe a word of it to him again. To do with it what he will. He tells Jacob that he trusts him, that this is the only way. 

Jacob listens, Jacob thanks him and then he kisses Richard’s temple.

And Richard forgets.

-

{They lie together in the darkness. Miles leaning against the foot of the bed, Richard at the head. 

“Guess you’re not so old after all,” Miles says and to Richard it almost sounds like an echo.

He rests a hand against Miles’s ankle and Miles nudges Richard’s bare thigh with his foot. He’s grinning like a fool and Richard suspects his own face looks much the same.

“I’m plenty old, you just make me forget sometimes,” Richard replies.}


End file.
